Ethics in process perspective

Embedded in the thought of Whitehead is an extremely interesting but relatively neglected ethic which has relevance to current attempts to reflect creatively on the ethical dimension of human existence both in South Africa and the wider world. This paper notes the main features of the context in which such reflection is taking place, and then proceeds to give an account of process ethics. Thereafter it offers a critical discussion whose main conclusion is that process ethics has more to commend it than other approaches to ethics.     

Person perception from changing emotional expressions: primacy,recency, or averaging effect?

ABSTRACT

Dynamic changes in emotional expressions are a valuable source of information in social interactions. As the expressive behaviour of a person changes, the inferences drawn from the behaviour may also change. Here, we test the possibility that dynamic changes in emotional expressions affect person perception in terms of stable trait attributions. Across three experiments, we examined perceivers’ inferences about others’ personality traits from changing emotional expressions. Expressions changed from one emotion (“start emotion”) to another emotion (“end emotion”), allowing us to disentangle potential primacy, recency, and averaging effects. Drawing on three influential models of person perception, we examined perceptions of dominance and affiliation (Experiment 1a), competence and warmth (Experiment 1b), and dominance and trustworthiness (Experiment 2). A strong recency effect was consistently found across all trait judgments, that is, the end emotion of dynamic expressions had a strong impact on trait ratings. Evidence for a primacy effect was also observed (i.e. the information of start emotions was integrated), but less pronounced, and only for trait ratings relating to affiliation, warmth, and trustworthiness. Taken together, these findings suggest that, when making trait judgements about others, observers weigh the most recently displayed emotion in dynamic expressions more heavily than the preceding emotion.     

Lateralisation of diffuse positive and negative affect: Ascribing valence to ambiguous stimuli

The available evidence regarding the lateralisation of affect is rather divergent. Interestingly, the common procedure in previous research on affective lateralisation has been to measure hemispheric dominance following exposure to concrete affective stimuli. Therefore, prior research seems to tap primarily into the lateralisation of specific approach–avoidance motivations rather than diffuse affective states. The present research adopted an alternative methodological approach that excluded approach–avoidance motivations and merely studied the lateralised nature of diffuse affect. Participants evaluated ambiguous stimuli presented in either the right or left visual field. Results showed that stimuli presented in the left visual field were significantly more often ascribed a positive meaning compared to information in the right visual field. The present findings are compatible with related lateralised processes and underscore the necessity of distinguishing between specific motivations and diffuse affect.     

Emotional and non-emotional memories are suppressible under direct suppression instructions

Research on retrieval suppression has produced varying results concerning whether negatively valenced memories are more or less suppressible than neutral memories. This variability may arise if, across studies, participants adopt different approaches to memory control. Cognitive and neurobiological research points to two mechanisms that achieve retrieval suppression: thought-substitution and direct suppression (Benoit & Anderson, 2012; Bergström, de Fockert, & Richardson-Klavehn, 2009). Using the Think/No-think paradigm, this study examined whether participants can inhibit neutral and negatively valenced memories, using a uniform direct suppression strategy. Importantly, when strategy was controlled, negative and neutral items were comparably inhibited. Participants reported high compliance with direct suppression instructions, and success at controlling awareness predicted forgetting. These findings provide the first evidence that direct suppression can impair negatively valenced events, and suggest that variability in forgetting negative memories in prior studies is unlikely to arise from difficulty using direct suppression to control emotionally negative experiences.     

Devaluation of distracting stimuli

Previous research has shown that distracting stimuli are evaluated more negatively than new stimuli in a dual task paradigm (Raymond, Fenske, & Tavassoli, 2003). The present research aimed to extend this research by showing that repeatedly selecting targets in a perceptual identification task leads to lower evaluations of distracting stimuli embedded in this task, even when participants are unaware that they will be asked to evaluate the stimuli in a subsequent (separate) task. Results indeed show that repeatedly selecting target stimuli in the presence of distracting stimuli leads to devaluation of these distracting stimuli compared to both target stimuli and new stimuli in a subsequent task. The findings of the present research indicate that devaluation of repeatedly ignored stimuli arises even when stimulus evaluation is not salient during target selection.     

The development of a brief group intervention (Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy) for patients with medically unexplained somatic symptoms: a pilot study

The primary aim of this equivalence study was to compare the outcome of a brief group therapeutic intervention, based on the principles of dynamic interpersonal therapy (DIT) with an intervention based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in patients suffering from medically unexplained somatic symptoms (MUSS). Participants were 89 patients (aged 18 to 62) who were offered 20 sessions of either DIT or CBT, as central part of a treatment package, consisting of art therapy, psychomotor therapy, social therapy and physical therapy. Measurements were conducted at baseline, 10 weeks and 20 weeks, using self-rating scales measuring the level of anxiety and depression, the severity of medically unexplained symptoms and quality of life. Results showed that CBT and DIT were comparable. The conclusion was that it is recommended to design a larger scale randomised controlled trial to further elaborate the short-term and long-term effects of this novel psychodynamic group therapy for MUSS patients.     

Towards understanding pleasure at the misfortunes of others: The impact of self-evaluation threat on schadenfreude

In two experiments we demonstrated that a self-evaluation threat intensifies schadenfreude. Moreover, we showed that a self-evaluation threat predicts schadenfreude in both threat-related and threat-unrelated domains and when controlling for feelings of envy and dislike towards the target and evaluations of the misfortune in terms of deservingness. These findings indicate that another's misfortune may be pleasing because it satisfies people's concern for a positive self-view and a sense of self-worth.     

Attentional biases using the body in the crowd task: Are angry body postures detected more rapidly?

Research using schematic faces has consistently demonstrated attentional biases towards threatening information (angry faces), which are accentuated for individuals with higher levels of anxiety. However, research has yet to reveal whether this is the case for other nonverbal channels of communication. In the research reported here, ninety-five undergraduates completed a body in the crowd task analogous to the face in the crowd task, to examine whether attentional biases for threat existed for schematic body postures. Participants demonstrated faster detection of threat. A discrepant angry posture in a neutral crowd was identified quicker than a discrepant happy posture in a neutral crowd. This effect was pronounced for individuals with higher self-reported levels of trait anxiety. Results also demonstrated evidence of delayed disengagement from threat. Individuals were slower (i.e., more distracted) by identical crowds of angry postures rather than happy or neutral crowds and were slower to detect a discrepant neutral posture among an angry crowd than neutral among a happy crowd. These findings are the first to establish threat biases using body postures in a visual search paradigm. The results are in accordance with previous research using schematic face stimuli. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Memory for affectively valenced and neutral stimuli in depression: Evidence from a novel matching task

Depressed persons have better memory for affectively negative than positive stimuli, a pattern generally not exhibited by non-depressed individuals. The mechanisms underlying this differential memory are not clear. In this study we examined memory for valenced and neutral stimuli in depressed and non-depressed individuals under conditions of relatively unconstrained encoding. We developed a novel task based on the game, Concentration, in which participants tried to match pairs of positive and negative words, and pairs of neutral words, hidden under squares in as few turns as possible. Whereas non-depressed participants selected and turned over positive squares more frequently than they did negative squares, depressed participants selected and turned over positive and negative squares equally often. Depressed participants also matched fewer positive word pairs within the first five minutes of the task than did non-depressed participants, and they exhibited poorer learning of positive words. Depressed and non-depressed participants did not differ in their matching of neutral words. These findings add to a growing literature indicating that depression is characterised by difficulties in the processing of positive stimuli.     

“I Tried to Make it not Confusing by Fixing it”: Describing Six First Graders’ Use of Strategies to Understand Text

This study describes six first-grade students’ use of metacognitive strategies. The students (4 boys and 2 girls) represented low, average, and above-average readers and were enrolled in a rural Midwestern elementary school. A variety of data were collected throughout the year: (a) an informal reading inventory and metacognitive awareness interview were conducted at the beginning and end of the year; and (b) during the school year, think-aloud interview protocols, running records, anecdotal notes, and retellings were conducted. The analysis revealed that these first graders were reporting and using a variety of strategies to read.